Camp Halfblood: Rise of the titans
by bakatora16
Summary: Placed a few years after "The Last Olympian," a group of new demigods enter the camp. Join their Quests, and watch them experience life as a demigod
1. Capture the Flag

"Ok, it's almost time for capture the flag to begin!" A booming voice covered the night sky. The voice that floated within the sky belonged to Chiron, the centaur trainer of heroes. Chiron possessed a rather thick, brown beard complete with matching side burns and his brown hair was mid-length. His bottom half consisted of a brown horse's bottom. All in all, not only did Chiron look eloquent and intelligent, but he looked rather magnificent as well. "You all know the rules. Each team takes their flag to opposite sides of the forest and plants it. It must be visible, and you can have a maximum of two guards at the flag. They also cannot stand more than ten feet beside the flag. All weapons are fair game, including magical ones! And please, no killing. The teams will be the Olympus demigods on the blue side, and the minor demigods on the red side!" Although the Olympus demigods were generally stronger than the minor demigods, the sheer volume of the minor demigods more than balanced it out. When this is combined with the fact that Hera's cabin constantly remained empty, Aphrodite's cabin would more than likely be too consumed with their own looks to take the game seriously, and that Artemis' cabin also remained constantly empty, the Olympus demigods were admittedly worried, even if only slightly. "As you know, for this game of capture the flag we have two generals leading and planning, one from each side. Will you two step forward?"

From the blue team, a young African-American male stepped forward. His night colored hair was fashioned short, in a fade cut. He had a very light mustache/goatee combo upon his face. His eyes were the color of bright emeralds, and his very facial expressions possessed the very essence of the word 'calm.' He had a very slender body frame, although he had a toned build. Due to the fact that capture the flag required the use of armor, the young man had been covered head to toe in battle wear. His torso was covered in white armor plates, along with his waist, shins, shoulders, and entire arm. The parts that weren't covered with the white armor, was covered by black chainmail which was worn underneath the armor. Truth be told, his armor was the armor of a European knight rather than a Greek warrior, and he was often told to switch by his counselors. However, the armor was given to him by his close friend as a birthday present, so it holds sentimental value to him. He had a bracelet upon each wrist; one black and one gold. "Orion Hamilton. I'm leading the Blue team today, since I'm the leader of the Poseidon cabin." The young man's voice sounded calm and relaxed as he spoke.

From the red team, a second young African-American male stepped up, although he was maybe a shade lighter than Orion. His hair was short and black, with a boxed up fade style. His eyes were silvery, and rather captivating. Like Orion, he too was wearing armor. His armor was mostly gold, and covered his entire body, and included a helmet. It was rather ornate, as if a lot of care went into building it. However, what separated this armor from the rest was that dust, rocks, and anything in the area seemed to push away from the young man. His armor was magical, and seemed to possess a small layer of wind around it. "Zephyrus Black from the Aeolus cabin. I'm leading the red team today." Orion didn't particularly know Zephyrus. He had seen him around of course, and with the fact that he was one of only five residents of the Aeolus cabin he stood out. Zephyrus kept to himself for the most part however, so they never had a conversation.

"Alright, here are your flags! Now everyone set up at the opposite side of the forest and wait for the starting horn. Remember, the river is the boundary line. You must cross the river with your opponent's flag to win. Good luck!"

"Okay." Orion stated once they had reached the boundary line. "We'll put the flag here, that way it'll still be visible, just really far away." Orion chose two of his own cabin mates; two Cyclops, to guard the flag.

"Captain Fayt Roberts reporting for duty, sir!" A young man jokingly saluted Orion as he appeared beside him. He was several shades lighter than him, but still African-American by human standards. His black hair was cut short, and he had a light mustache/goatee combo. His eyes slanted upward slightly, but most people paid more attention to his azure colored eyes than that particular trait. He was bulkier than Orion, but not overly muscular and his muscles weren't overly refined. He placed a gold, Greek helmet overtop his head which matched the gold plated armor on his chest and matching wrist guards and shin guards. The armor was worn over top of his dark blue jeans. Orion and Fayt were the best of friends, to the point where people considered them brothers, which wasn't too surprising seeing as their fathers were Poseidon and Zeus, respectively. In fact, Fayt was the one who had given Orion his armor for his birthday, after Orion kept complaining about his dislike for the Greek armor.

"And Lieutenant Mariella Covas reporting as well!" A female crept up behind Fayt and Orion, gently squeezing Fayt's hand. Her human heritage was half African-American and half Puerto Rican, which gave her a skin tone slightly darker than her boyfriend's but lighter than Orion. Her hair reached her shoulders and was dyed blonde, with the exception of her lime green bangs which hung across her face. Her eyes were a magnificent dark green, although streaks of brown flickered through them. She was rather curvy, although she was in shape. She was wearing a golden breastplate which fit her figure perfectly, which had an engraving of a sun on her stomach. She also had matching wrist and shin guards. Mariella got along rather well with Orion, mostly due to the fact that Orion was what Fayt constantly reminded her, her future brother-in-law. She gave Fayt a little peck, much to the delight of the Aphrodite campers.

"Get a room." A second female's voice appeared behind Orion. This female's human half was a mixture of white and Filipino, which gave her a tanned appearance. Her hair was rather long and black, worn in a half ponytail which engulfed her ear tips. Her eyes were a mysterious gray color, and her mouth had been motioned in a half smile. Despite being short, she was rather athletic in appearance. Her torso was covered by two toned armor, with the top half being metallic silver, while the bottom half was white with black streaks. Her left shoulder and majority of her arm was hidden away by silver armor, while her right arm had a white sleeve upon it with black streaks. Her legs were covered in a familiar sleeve-like cloth similar to her right arm.

"Iliana, get a stable." Fayt retorted, pointing fun of the fact that her boyfriend was a centaur. The four teens and cabin leaders hung out a lot, and were rather good friends. To them, this was simply daily banter.

"Alright Orion, what's the plan?" Iliana questioned. The entire collection of demigod campers had been staring at Orion, awaiting orders. Orion wasn't the type to fold under pressure, but he wasn't exactly the type to excel under it either. Like the seas themselves, Orion just went with the tide of things.

"Ok, I've got the absolute perfect battle plan. It's never failed in a battle so far." Once Orion finished that sentence, the starting horn sounded. Orion's bracelet's then transformed into full out weapons. The gold bracelet, which was composed of celestial bronze turned into a miniature scythe-like sword. The handle was completely blood red in color, while the blade, which curved inward like a hook was pure bronze. The other bracelet, which was composed of the rare stygian iron, formed a trident. Both the handle and the bladed part itself were composed of pure stygian iron. "LLEEEERRROOOYYYY JJJEEENNNKKKIINNNSSSS!" Orion cried out loudly, while drawing his voice out. He then charged in the opposite direction towards the area where the red team would be coming. The entire group stared in awe for a moment, before shaking their heads. Fayt's hand became briefly surrounded by lightning, which collected at a small golden ring on his finger. The ring transformed into a large lance. It was slightly longer than Fayt's full body, with the actual blade part appearing to be a combination of a spearhead and a sword. The blade was made out of celestial bronze, while the handle and pole part was gray.

A small charm bracelet on Mariella's wrist formed a long bow. The bow was forest green in color, and nearly as long as Mariella herself, curving at both the top and bottom. She slung a quiver overtop her shoulder, which held arrows composed of both celestial bronze and stygian iron. Iliana ripped a small necklace off her, and transformed it into a half-length staff. It resembled her father's Caduceus with the exception that instead of twin snakes encircling the staff, it held twin ravens. The wings on the staff were rather sharp, allowing Iliana to use the weapon like an axe. "Attack!" Fayt cried out, as the main campers prepared to charge.

"LEEEERRROYYYY JJJEEENNNKKKIINNNSSS!" The entire blue team cried out as they charged, mimicking their captain. They quickly caught up with Orion, just in time to meet with the red team at the dead center of the river. The two teams began to fight, attempting not to let anyone past. Under the veil of the fight, Orion, Iliana, Fayt, and Mariella went on ahead while fighting the stragglers.

Meanwhile, the red team's elaborate plan had worked. Forgetting to account for the fact that Zephyrus could fly, the blue team was so heavily distracted by the others that he slipped right on by. The two Cyclops spotted him once he hit the ground, but they were quickly dispatched by a well placed gust of wind. Zephyrus grabbed the flag, and flew back into the air to return to his side. "Zephyrus is in the air and he has the flag!" One of the Cyclops bellowed with all of his might, which managed to allow his voice to be heard from the other side of the field.

"Oh, crap. I'll handle it, you guys continue onward." Fayt slid to a halt and looked up into the skies. Being a child of the king of the skies, both Zephyrus and Fayt shared something in common: they both could fly. Fayt left his three friends and shot off into the air, catching up with Zephyrus feet before he would have passed the river. Fayt and Zephyrus were well acquainted and good friends, so they both knew what each other were capable of. The two flew at each other full speed and attacked; Zephyrus throwing a punch while Fayt swung his lance. The resulting collision caused a huge wave of wind to blow through the trees and other campers. He then caught Fayt off guard, knocking him aside with a powerful gust of wind. He then began moving towards the river again. "No!" Fayt flew full speed in front of Zephyrus and began to surround his lance with lightning. "Sky rider!" Fayt screamed the name of his lance as he surrounded it with lightning. The attack pushed Zephyrus back towards the blue team's starting point, away from the river he needed to cross. Meanwhile, Iliana had been teleporting between the two guards of the red team's flag, and striking them. She finished the first guard with a rising strike with her half staff, and then teleported to the next one, where she kicked him in the face and knocked him out. This gave Orion enough time to grab the flag and run back towards the river. He began to form a shield out of water which blocked the arrows that were flying towards him. The arrow launchers were then picked off by Mariella, whom had been jumping from tree to tree firing them. Her heritage as Apollo's daughter served her well, as not a single shot was wasted. One arrow for one target, she made sure to keep this up to allow Orion the time needed to escape.

"Blue team wins!" Chiron cried out, as Orion crossed the river. The blue team cried out in joy, while the red team groaned in disappointment. They raised Orion high into the air in a victory cheer, before letting them down. The stakes were that the losing side had to wash the winning side's cabins, and the red team had a lot more cabins than the blue side. Their celebration was cut short however, when the resident oracle, the crimson haired Rachel wondered upon the scene. She walked as if she were in a trance, her eyes glowing a bright green color. The strangest thing however, was that she walked directly up to Orion as she spoke.

"Demigods will answer the call,

Attempting to save strife from the West's arch

Quarrel over the one with cursed blood, and all will fail

For common enemy, they doth share

The mixture of evil, spawn of many fears

The one who conquers will be the most modest of them all."

With that, she returned to normal, excused herself, and wondered back to the cabin. The campers began muttering and chatting amongst themselves. "Alright, alright people. We'll decide what we're going to do about this tomorrow. For now, everyone to bed." Chiron trudged off and the campers groaned as they went to their cabins.

Later that night however, people started pouring into the Poseidon cabin. "Great party, Orion!" A first year camper from the Hermes cabin announced, as he ran past him in an attempt to get an older Aphrodite camper to dance with him. The campers had changed from battle armor, to the typical camp half-blood t-shirts and jeans. The party was one of the few times that Mariella was somewhere that Fayt wasn't, since Orion requested that the members of the Apollo cabin provide music.

"Hey Zephyr, you going to Orion's party?" Fayt questioned the Aeolus demigod. Fayt had been walking, or rather sneaking to meet up with Iliana and go to Orion's party at the Poseidon cabin.

"No. I don't do parties." And with that, Zephyrus walked away towards his cabin.

"Hey Fayt…hurry up!" A few feet down, Iliana called out in a hushed voice. It was well past curfew and they weren't supposed to be out the cabin, even if they were cabin leaders. The two got to the party and entered, greeting Orion.

"Hey Fayt, Mariella is doing a great job singing lead. I think one of those Ares kids is eyeing her though." That was all Fayt needed to hear. He thanked Orion, and proceeded to move closer to her.

"Oh hey, here you go. In honor of you leading us to victory and all." Iliana tossed a small, black box into Orion's hands. He stared for a bit before opening it up, revealing a small gold chain with a small bottle of sapphire colored water attached to it.

"Isn't this mine?" Orion questioned, taking it out and putting it on.

"Yep. Swiped it from ya earlier today." Iliana grinned a bit, proud of her accomplishment. Orion stared with his usual blank expression for a bit, before shrugging his shoulders. Iliana threw her arms up in frustration. "Mark my words Hamilton, I'll get a reaction out of you yet." Just then, Mariella and Fayt walked up to join the conversation. She had let her eldest half brother take over, so she could enjoy the party. Mariella sniffed the air a bit, before looking at her friends puzzled.

"Does anyone smell grapes?" She asked, while Fayt, Orion, and Iliana sniffed the air as well.

"Yep." Orion simply stated, throwing his hands into his pockets.

"Oh no…" Fayt realized what the smell meant a second too late. A portly, yet strangely terrifying man appeared in front of the door; managing to enter without opening it. Mr. D, also known as the constantly grumpy Dionysus discovered the party. Iliana, and in fact all of her fellow Hermes cabin mates instantly teleported back to their own cabins, while everyone else sat in silence.

"Everyone, you have ten seconds to get back to your own cabins and if you aren't there, I will wrap you in vines and hang you there for the rest of the night." Mr. D didn't get a chance to begin counting, before the campers began to run out the door. "So, Riona Hamlet…"

"It's Orion Hamilton." Despite Mr. D mocking his name, he still managed to remain calm.

"That's not important. Cleaning duty. One month. Now go to bed." Admittedly, Mr. D had gotten frustrated because of Orion's lack of a reaction. He turned and vanished, purposely leaving an explosion of grape juice all over the cabin, knowing Orion would have to clean it before morning.

The next morning, all of the camp leaders were at a table discussing the prophecy, and more so the fact of assigning a quest to Orion. "Well, we now know what the prophecy was hinting at." Chiron began. "We received an Iris message from Eris last night, while you all were enjoying your…festivities." Chiron threw a hard look at Orion, before continuing his explanation. "She's in trouble, in Saint Louis."

"The Saint Louis arch is there. Isn't that considered the arch of the west?" Fiona Richmond, the Athena cabin leader spoke up.

"Right. So Orion, your quest is to go help Eris. We'll give you four people besides yourself to take. Apparently, they all have to be demigods so chose wisely." Chiron looked at Orion, awaiting his choice.

Immediately, Orion chose Fayt, Mariella, and Iliana. Iliana sighed a bit, knowing that her boyfriend couldn't be chosen as he wasn't a demigod. She then remembered he was away on camp counselor business anyway, so it didn't actually matter. "For my last choice…Zephyrus." Zephyrus looked particularly shocked at his choice, considering that he never actually spoke with Orion before.

"Why me?"

"Why not? Besides, Fayt knows you and you fought well against him." Orion then stood up, and left to pack, beckoning his quest mates to do the same so that they could leave right away. About an hour later, Orion was ready to depart. He had changed into regular clothing: dark blue baggy jeans, with white and blue high top sneakers. He had on a white tee shirt, with a dark blue hoodie over top of this. The hood was pulled over his head, while the sleeves were rolled up to show off his two bracelets, which held his weapons. Zephyrus arrived next to Orion, also wearing more comfortable clothing. He wore a black, sleeveless hoodie with black jeans. His sneakers were black and gold Jordans, which lacked even a single scuff mark on them. Finally, he wore black headphones overtop his ears, which were actually his magical armor in resting form. Iliana literally popped up beside the two, thanks to her power of teleportation.

"Fayt is waiting on Mariella and they'll be here. Only reason I took so long was because I was talking to Aiden on an Iris message. Iliana had on black stockings with a pleated crimson mini skirt overtop of it. Her shoes were high tops with small wings painted on each shoe. She was also wearing a black tank top with a red tie on her neck, worn very loosely. Finally, she wore a beanie with wings stitched upon them. Fayt and Mariella walked up next, hand in hand as was their usual fashion.

Fayt had been wearing dark blue jeans with matching shoes. He was also wearing a skin-grasping blue vest, with short sleeves and a high collar. It was zipped up almost completely, and he also had on a long, blue mesh scarf over his neck. The scarf was fashioned, so that two tails extended down his back. Finally, he had on a white flat cap, and a blue earring in each ear. Mariella on the other hand, was wearing a black, sleeveless turtleneck that ended at hip level. She also wore a pink skirt, which had a small cream strip hanging down it. She wore knee highs to go along with her skirt, matching in color, as well as black flats for shoes. Each one of the five demigods had a bag filled with clothing and other supplies.

"Shall we?" Orion lead the way, as the five demigods left the safety of camp half-blood, and set route to their destination.


	2. Hudson River

The group of Demigods had been traveling on a local bus for several hours. Fayt had pulled out a drawing pad and began to illustrate a picture of the group. He had a rather natural talent for drawing which betrayed his Zeus background. Iliana, meanwhile, had found herself engrossed in a book. Her hand was strategically placed over the cover so that the title was obscured, but judging from her random murmurs; the book involved werewolves or wolves of some kind. Mariella had her head resting on Fayt's left shoulder, and had drifted off to sleep. Every few moments or so, she'd stir in her sleep and snuggle up closer to Fayt, which earned a few "awws," from passengers nearby. Orion, like Fayt, had been drawing while on his bus ride. However, instead of drawing actual people, he had been drawing his favorite subject; the ocean. It looked almost too realistic, and his coloring ability only further amplified the picture. Finally, Zephyrus, whom separated himself from the group by a few seats, had been reading a book as well. The book was titled "Demon Hunter," and it had a bit of wear and tear on it. It appeared as though Zephyrus had read the book several times.

"So, how we getting to Saint Louis?" Fayt barely looked up from his drawing pad as he questioned Orion. Orion had just finished coloring his sketch when Fayt questioned him. Instead of answering immediately, he instead pointed his drawing towards Fayt.

"Ocean, of course." Orion pointed at the picture; his expression unchanging. Fayt wasn't particularly happy about that. Being a child of Zeus, he wasn't exactly welcome on boats.

"I hate boats…" Zephyrus was also a demigod of the skies, so he could sympathize with Fayt's plight.

"That's the first thing you've said all day." Iliana pointed out. The group had broken into small talk quite a few times while traveling, especially with the random bus changes they had to go through. However, Zephyrus took the silent approach, and decided to simply listen. Instead of responding, Zephyrus simply shrugged his shoulders, and went back to his silence. "Glad we had that chat."

"Ok, we'll…borrow one of these boats to get there." Orion whispered to the group once they reached the entrance point to the Hudson River. Quite a few boats had been docked up, and since it was night time there was very little security.

"Can we take the cruise ship? It's so pretty!" Mariella pointed at the S.S. Rika; a cruise ship that gave discounts to Asian tourist who wanted to travel down the Hudson River.

"That's a cruise ship. I'm pretty sure they would notice that was gone within the first five seconds. Plus it's incredibly slow." Zephyrus broke his silence once more, which caused the group to turn their attention to him. He was actually correct.

"You can talk?" Mariella's response earned Zephyrus rolling his eyes at her and refocusing on Orion.

"We can take that speed boat right there. They're meant to fit six so we should have plenty of room. Alright, let's bolt." The five ran full speed towards the boat and climbed inside. Orion quickly pulled the docking cords off and then climbed into the driver's seat of the motor boat. With one swift motion, he forced the boat to activate by pulling the rip cord, and drove off before security had been none the wiser.

"I feel seasick…" Fayt hung over the side of the boat, while Mariella rubbed his back. On the opposite side, Zephyrus had been in a similar position, with a reluctant Iliana rubbing his. They had been like this for the past few hours while they were traveling, and now it was close to sunrise.

"Must be because of their air affinity." Iliana pointed out, before the boat made a sudden jerking motion.

"What was that?" Mariella questioned, clutching her boyfriend tighter so he wouldn't tumble overboard. Orion simply shrugged his shoulders and continued driving. A few moments later however, the jerking motion started again. "It almost looks like it's centered around…" At that very moment, Fayt shot out the boat and into the water. "…FAYT!" Mariella cried out.

Fayt struggled and attempted to stay afloat, but to no avail. Fayt never learned how to swim, like all of Zeus' children. That was mostly because whenever they were in a body of water large enough for them to actually swim in, the weight of it multiplied as if it were trying to suck them under. After about ten seconds, Fayt sunk as if he had rocks tied upon his feet. Orion stopped the boat, and together with Mariella jumped in after Fayt. Mariella managed to grab Fayt before he sunk too far under. Orion then came swimming underneath them, and used his powers over the sea to send the three back to the surface. After the two dropped Fayt back into the boat and he regained his breath, he screamed in defiance. "You know what. I'll just fly there. I'm going to see you guys in Saint Louis. "He began floating, and Zephyrus joined him.

"The sea is for fish. We should be flying high like eagles." He spoke. "We'll wait for you guys on the shore." The two flew off high into the sky, leaving the remaining three demigods to travel by boat. About a day and a half later, Orion and the gang finally arrived on the shore of their destination.

"Welcome to Saint Louis!" Orion announced, as he pushed their boat onto the shore.

"Where's Fayt and Zephyrus?" Iliana questioned once they had climbed out the boat. The three walked a few feet away from the shore, where they found a small grass field. Laying on the group, were the bodies of Zephyrus and Fayt. Each of their heads had been bleeding, and a figure stood behind their bodies. Almost without thinking, the three demigods pulled their weapons out. It was easy to see just by the look on Mariella's face that it was taking everything in her power to keep herself from charging the mysterious attack.

"Gang…let's move in." Orion led the charge, as they rushed the opponent in a triangle formation.


	3. Son of time

Mariella let out a fierce battle cry, as she sent an arrow flying directly at the figure's body. However, the arrow fell a few feet short in front of it, before erupting in a column of light. This brilliant light, while off target, allowed the group to actually see their attacker. It was a male, who appeared to be older than the group; between nineteen to twenty-one in appearance. His tan skin appeared several tones lighter than his light brown hair, which was kept short and cut close to his head. The only exception to this was the Mohawk that formed in the middle of his hair, which was raised upwards. He possessed thick side burns, that gradually thinned out as it grew closer to his chin. To complete the image, he had "soul patch" upon his chin.

The male was quite tall, so that you could barely see his golden eyes. Truth be told, Mariella and Iliana had to look up in order to see his face. His shirt was black although completely ripped down the middle and tattered and torn on the bottom, which matched his hoodie. The hoodie hung down to his thighs, barely zipped at the bottom. He was also wearing jeans, although they were worn and hat numerous holes in them. All in all, he looked like he had not changed his clothes in several days.

"I missed?" Mariella muttered to herself, while drawing another arrow and firing it. The arrow turned into a column of light which sailed at her target. Mariella's arrow once again missed it's target; due to the fact that the target disappeared completely. Instead, Mariella felt a tap upon her shoulder. As she frantically whipped her head, she found herself face to face with the man. However, it was the man's turn to be surprised. His stomach was met with a blast of pure solar energy from Mariella's hands that sent him flying into the air. He recovered rather quickly however, and appeared in front of gripping something in his hand; a photograph. In the photo, Fayt had his arms wrapped around Mariella. Both were grinning rather proudly at each other. The photograph was Fayt's, since the only other copy of that photograph resided in Mariella's bag.

"You could do better." The young man pointed out, while driving his palm into the defenseless Mariella's stomach. She dropped to her knees and slumped over onto the ground unconscious. Iliana was admittedly surprised considering the fact that Mariella, like the rest of their group, was a rather capable fighter. She wrote it off as Mariella being surprised, and instead focused on exacting revenge. Besides, there was something odd about this enemy. Mariella never missed a target; her first arrow was tampered with somehow. The only problem was, Iliana wasn't sure of what method he could have used.

"Better play it safe..." Iliana thought to herself, before beginning to walk towards their young enemy.

"Another cute but feisty one." The man stated in response. Iliana then immediately vanished from sight, and appeared beside the man.

"Shut up!" Her words were followed by a swipe of her right hand. The young man jumped away from this however, while teasing that she missed. But Iliana returned his teasing, by holding up the stolen photo he previously had in his hand. "Wasn't aiming for ya." While Iliana was in the middle of her gloating however, the young man picked up Fayt's body and tossed it directly into her small body.

"Four down, looks like you're the last one left. Aren't you angry?" The young man asked Orion, who simply stood staring in his usual, emotionless state.

"Of course. I'm enraged right now." Orion's monotone voice earned a stare from the young man.

"What are you, slow? Well anyway, you're the last one left so just hurry up and be a good little lamb. The lion is still hungry." The young man taunted in an attempt to make Orion angry. However, he could see that it was failing. Orion wasn't the type to get angry over anything.

Instead, the two began a furious exchange of blows. For now, they had been using simply their fist. However, Orion could feel like he was moving more...sluggish than usual. "Time." Orion was met with a fist to his face that knocked him back a few feet. "You're using time...manipulating it...wait...you can't be..."

"That's right. I'm a demigod. I'm the son of Kronos!" The young man proudly exclaimed, before being slammed in the stomach with a geyser of water.

"Well then, I'll have to be more serious." Just as Orion finished his statement, Zephyrus and Fayt regained consciousness and managed to walk over beside their friend.

"I feel like I was just hit by a train..thrown by superman...who was thrown by the hulk." Fayt muttered while holding his head.

"Never mind that; we need to take this guy out." Zephyrus mentioned. Orion grinned at that, and the three huddled together for a brief moment.

"Something about lions...they like to hunt in numbers. So tell me, whose the lion now and who is the lamb now?" Orion asked his opponent, before his cheeks swelled to a massive size. Zephyrus began to suck in a large amount of air, while Fayt held his mouth wide open. Simultaneously, the three shot out a stream of water, air, and lightning, respectively, from their mouths. The three elements mixed into one whirling cyclone which blasted the young man directly and sent him sailing through the air. He traveled out of sight, with still no sign of landing.

"Okay, everyone gather around. Quickly, quickly." Mariella smiled. It was night fall again, and the group was still relatively injured and writhing in pain. "But then I hear a whisper that this too shall pass..." Mariella began to sing her personal healing song, This too shall pass by and almost instantly the group felt as if they were injected with morphine. Their wounds healed up a great deal, and the group was finally able to rest in peace.

"I don't think I've ever felt so good after using the bathroom." Orion spoke out loud to himself. He had awoken in the middle of the night due to the tugging feeling at his bladder, and it was bad enough that they were sleeping outside. Sleeping covered in urine wasn't quite what Orion wanted to do.

"Remember me?" The young man from before suddenly appeared beside Orion, and before his surprise left him, his world went black.

"Where's Orion?" The group muttered in almost unison once they all awoke. Their bewilderment quickly faded once they looked at his sleeping bag, and saw a note appeared in it's place.

"I'm not a lion or a lamb. I'm more like a bear. Bears are a lot smarter than lions anyway. We don't need to hunt in packs; just one is enough. Catch me if you can, here is where you'll find us. Daemon." The group read the note that was left behind by their previous enemy, now revealed to be named Daemon.

"What do we do now?" Iliana asked Fayt. Since Fayt was the son of the leader of the gods, he was usually either first or second in command.

"What else? We go get this Daemon freak, and beat him until he returns Orion to us. Let's go." The group walked off, reading the paper's directions in order to get to Daemon, and more importantly, their friend.


	4. Lost and Found

"I think this is the place." Fayt had lead the group to a cave, which according to the directions on their note, their friend was being held captive. Sure enough, once they walked through the cave, the young man known as Daemon had been standing on a raised platform along with with bound Orion. His golden eyes shimmered brightly in the darkness of the cave.

"We're coming to get you, Orion!" Mariella noted that Orion, although bound and gagged, looked relatively unharmed. He even seemed relaxed despite the circumstance.

"I'm glad you all could make it. Defeating so many demigods may finally get me some well deserved recognition." Daemon flashed a quick smirk upon his face, but it quickly faded back to it's expressionless form. It was hard to read his emotions, which served to heighten Daemon's fighting ability.

"Don't underestimate us. We're coming serious this time and when we're done, you'll lay dead at our feet." Iliana pulled out her Raven staff, while the others pulled out their respective weapons as well.

"Me, lay dead at your feet eh?" Daemon's eyes narrowed as he withdrew a small dagger, as well as a Stygian Iron short sword. And suddenly, Daemon was gone. He reappeared directly behind the group, nearly catching them off guard. "Come at me then."

"Gladly!" Iliana lead the charge by teleporting behind Daemon and swinging her axe at him. It nearly cleaved him in two, but at the last second her blow seemed to slow down just enough for her foe to escape being slashed. She did however, manage to follow up with a powerful kick that sent him flying. Mariella took the opportunity that Iliana created to fire several well placed arrows at the rope that bound Orion's arms and legs in order to free him.

"Nice work." Orion removed the gag placed on his mouth and joined the group in battle.

"Fayt!" Zephyr had unleashed a chaotic hurricane of wind that enveloped Daemon completely. He was fighting through it, but still couldn't quite escape. Fayt nodded towards Zephyr and joined him by using his own control over the wind. While Zephyr's wind was significantly more powerful and forceful than Fayt's, the latter's wind was a lot more controlled and wasted less power. Daemon's feet was swept up from under him by the wind, and he flew into the air. He managed to recover in midair however, and drop kicked Orion in the face.

"You've got to try harder." Daemon was trying to get underneath the demigods' skin. It would be a lie to say that it wasn't working.

"Why are you even doing this? You're a demigod like us. We aren't bad people and neither are you." Orion wasn't the best person to give speeches, because of how he was never actually seen getting passionate about anything.

"Shut up, what do you know? And besides; I'm not a Demigod. I'm a Demititan." Daemon's correction suddenly made everything fall into place. The way their blows slowed down when they were aimed at him. The way he was able to move so quickly. Those brilliant golden eyes. "I'm a child of Kronus. How could any of you possibly understand what that's like? To be foresaken by all the gods, and even your father himself. To have to live life trying not to be killed not only by the monsters that live in this world, but the very gods that soverign it. But I'm a survivor. I'll show all the gods my worth; even if I have to defeat every demigod who lives." Daemon flashed bits of anger in the middle of his speech, which was understandable given his circumstances.

"I feel for you; really, I do. But you're going about this the wrong way." Fayt tried to reason with Daemon, in vain.

"Shut up!" Daemon launched himself at Fayt and was able to graze him with his short sword. Daemon was like a whole other person once he began fighting while enraged. He was fully integrating his time powers this time, and although the group did manage to land several blows and they were outnumbering him, they still began to struggle. Atleast, that's how it started initially. Demigods were naturally quick learners, and the group was no exception. They began to learn how to compensate for Daemon's time control as well as anticipate when he would use his power. With that knowledge, the tide of the battle slowly began to turn.

"Last chance to give up." Orion spoke rather calmly despite the situation.

"I'm not going to give up. I'm going to defeat you all. I'm going to save Eris. I'm going to get the recogniation that I deserve!" Daemon clashed his sword against Orion's Trident shaped magical weapon, the Wave Crusher. Orion then counter-attacked with his sickle shaped weapon, Storm Breaker. Daemon was knocked back and staggered a bit; falling completely over when Mariella shot an exploding arrow in front of him. Daemon rolled backwards, but was met with a bolt of lightning from Fayt. Daemon went to a kneeling position; his breath heavy.

Orion at this point, put his weapons away and walked over to their defeated foe. "Join us." Orion's offer caused a quizzical expression to appear on Daemon's face.

"He bound and gagged you. Are you insane?" Iliana was the first to speak up against Osris.

"Yeah, what is wrong with you." Mariella and Zephyr chimed in with nearly unison.

"Remember though guys; he was left unharmed." Fayt sided with Orion, for the same reason he imagined Orion offered in the first place. Children of the big three were previously in a similar situation as Daemon, and considering Fayt and Orio nwere children of the big three, they could relate. However at this point, the group erupted into their own individual arguing and bickering over the fate of Daemon.

"That's enough!" Daemon threw a punch at Orion, but his fist hit a wall of water that Orion had summoned. "I will never, ever join you. So you don't have to worry about any of that! I'll save Eris before you do. Cross me again and I won't be so nice the next time around." Daemon took off running out the cave, and Zephyr began to follow him.

"Let him go." Orion grabbed his foot just before he managed to fully take flight and yanked him back.

"Fine. Now what; oh fearless leader?" Zephy sarcastically asked. It either flew over Orion's head or he simply decided to ignore it however.

"We continue to our destination. On foot this time. I don't think we should seperate again." With Orion's orders, the group moved out and continued towards the location of Eris.


	5. Secret of the Arch

"So what's our next move?" Iliana took a large bite out of her omelet as she spoke. The group decided that since they were already in Saint Louis, they could afford to stop and grab a bite to eat. Mariella insisted on IHOP and was currently stuffing down her pancake in bliss.

"I suppose we should start with the obvious and go to the arch." Orion furrowed his brow in disgust at the group. He hated eggs, and had decided on eating a burger instead of breakfast food.

"We should have gone straight there." Zephyr wasn't all that hungry in the first place, and as a result was pushing around his half eaten sausage links.

"Alright guys." Fayt dropped to a whisper, which made everyone lean in close. "I'm thinking of a number between one and five-hundred. If anyone guesses it first try, I'll pay the entire check." Fayt liked to play games such as this to keep everyone entertained.

"Three hundred and seventy-four." Orion seemed almost bored with his answer.

"I hate you…" Fayt pulled out his wallet and sighed. Sometimes, it felt like Orion could read his mind.

"The arch is this way." The group had departed from IHOP and Mariella was currently leading the way by following a map she picked up from a gas station nearby. It was hard to concentrate with Fayt and Zephyr bickering in the background however. Fayt was still mad that he paid Zephyr's meal and he didn't take his leftovers with him.

"Should we go in?" Zephyr's question was met with a shrug from the group. Mariella had placed her map back into her bag and decided to marvel at the Arch's beauty. She imagined that a child of Athena would go absolutely nuts here. It was an architectural masterpiece. The only thing that was tarnishing its image was an area slightly to the right that had a big construction sign in front of it, to block it off from the public.

"Wait…" Orion looked around to make sure no one was watching, and walked towards the construction zone. Something felt…unnatural about it. He concentrated and as he grew closer, his eyes began to replace the construction signs with a set of marble stairs. "It's the mist guys!" Someone…or something set up a powerful barrier of mist. They'd have to be careful getting to the stairs. To every other normal person, they'd see a normal construction zone and a group of teenagers crossing over it. Not exactly a good idea to be caught. One by one though, they managed to sneak into the area and down the marble stairs.

The demigods found themselves in some sort of passageway that looked like a fusion between a sewer and a subway. "You're a terrible leader!" After a few minutes of walking down the passageway, Zephyr suddenly whipped around and grabbed Orion by his shirt collar.

"Let go of him. Now." Fayt caused a few streaks of lightning to pass around his body.

"You're such an animal." Mariella scuffed in disgust toward her boyfriend, which made Iliana snap toward her.

"Are you taking a shot at my boyfriend?!" Iliana was obviously referring to the fact that her boyfriend was a young centaur.

"Enough!" Hearing Orion bellow made everyone freeze in their tracks. It was more frightening than anything the gods could cook up at least. "Look, it's obvious that someone is using Eris' apple of Discord against us. So everyone take a deep breath and calm down." A wave of sudden realization hit their faces all at once. They were being manipulated…but by whom? For the next proceeding few minutes, everyone was silent; obviously trying to calm down and overcome the apple's effects. Orion had suggested that the best way to overcome the agitation and negative feelings was to keep remembering positive memories. It seemed to be working.

"What's that?" Iliana had heard footsteps walking toward them. Children of Hermes generally had the best sense when it came to things such as that. But the footsteps didn't feel human. They felt…"Move!" The team jumped off to the side of the wall just in time to see thorns flying directly to the spot where they were previously standing. From the shadows, stepped a manticore. An agitated one at that. The demigod wasted no time drawing their weapons; Fayt unleashing a stream of lightning that bounced off the creature's skin. Zephyr and Iliana had moved in close, where Iliana had barely avoided being hit by its tail by teleporting away. Zephyr wasn't as lucky, but his armor softened the blows. He still managed to fly into Mariella though; knocking off her aim enough to graze Fayt when he was moving in to attack. Orion pushed passed the momentarily halted Fayt and shot a jet of water at the monster, while it was busy blocking Iliana's axe. Although he pushed the monster back he wasn't able to actually harm it. The battle quickly turned to a losing one, with many of their attacks being unsuccessful. And then, the Manticore roared. It roared and whipped its tail sending thorns directly at Mariella.

"No!" Fayt took off in flight but he knew he wouldn't reach her in time. And then, the thorns slowed for a split second and Mariella was gone. "You…" Fayt had stopped his movements and whipped up a large gust of wind in doing so. Daemon stood a few feet away from where the thorns would have connected with Mariella in his arms. He dropped her to her feet and focused on the Manticore, as if he was the only one in the area. But Fayt didn't get it. Why did he save Mariella?

"You can't beat it alone. Not while it's enraged. Let's join forces." Orion spoke once the group all reconvened around Daemon.

"I'm not taking any orders from you. No thanks." Daemon readied his weapons.

"No orders. Let's just do what comes natural." Orion gave two quick pats on Daemon's shoulder and flashed him a smile. Oddly enough, Daemon didn't feel a desire to cut his hand off. It was something about Orion that was soothing.

"Just don't get in my way." The battle began to flow a lot better with Daemon in the mix. A lot more naturally. Iliana teleported next to the Manticore and locked its tail in place with her axe, while Daemon defended her from the creature's claws. Mariella supported her by shooting arrows that formed a net over the tail that Iliana was keeping still. It couldn't fire any more thorns which was good. Orion and Zephyr used their control over water and wind, respectively, to create a miniature hurricane underneath the beast's legs and shot it up into the air minus the held down tail. Daemon then slowed down the creatures return to the ground with his control over time.

"Sky Rider!" Fayt consumed his lance with lightning and threw it directly at the Manticore's open mouth and it tore threw it in one blow.

"Join us." Orion extended his offer once the group recovered and he noticed that although Daemon wasn't joining in the celebration, he wasn't exactly running away either. Before Daemon could answer however, the ground beneath them began to shake.

"Scatter!" Daemon jumped to the left along with Orion. Iliana grabbed Mariella and teleported forward. Fayt and Zephyr simply flew over to the right. The one pathway somehow shifted to three and walls appeared to separate the paths completely.

"Everyone okay?" Orion called to his friends. They all shouted their responses, which let him breathe a little easier. "Let's go forward and meet up at the end of the paths! I'm sure they all combine into one." He wasn't sure. But it sounded nice at the time. Besides, it wasn't like they had a choice anyway. They just had to survive long enough to see each other again.


	6. The Forked Path

"Are you going to keep bothering me about this until I answer you?" Daemon and Orion had traveled quite a bit down the length of the pathway they ended up on. But Orion had seemed to take the time the two had together as a means of bonding. Daemon wasn't exactly amused at that.

"Yes, I am. Give me a reason that actually makes sense as to why you won't join us." Orion had shot down every previous reason Daemon had listed. Even the fact that there would be no house for him to stay in, and that the gods wouldn't be happy with him there. Orion simply commented on the fact that the gods already wouldn't be happy because they were with him, and that the gods were practically never happy.

"Fine. You all are too weak. Look how much trouble you had dealing with just me. Why would I join with a group that I either constantly defeat, or have to save?" Daemon's answer kept Orion quiet for a few moments, surprisingly.

"Alright." Orion halted in his tracks and stroked his light goatee for a moment. "You and I will spar right now. If I win, you come with us. If you win, I'll leave you alone about it." Orion wanted to wait and make sure that no one was going to attack them before he decided to issue his challenge. To show that he was serious, Orion let his braces return to their weapon forms.

"Just don't cry when you lose." Daemon withdrew a small, Celestial Bronze dagger and held it in his left hand, and his Stygian Iron sword in his right. Daemon and Orion were both skilled at duel wielding weapons, and both had a weapon made out of the metal that was supposedly only able to be used by a child of Hades. It was a curious fact, but the current theory that the group had agreed on was that the two most both have a distant ancestor who was a child of Hades and passed the ability on.

"Don't you find it weird that we haven't been attacked yet?" Zephyr and Fayt had been proceeding with caution, but were beginning to miss the point of it. They hadn't been attacked at all since they were split up, and Fayt was guessing that was about a half hour ago.

"Yeah, I do actually. It's obvious that whoever is running this show, knows that we're here. "Fayt looked around to take in his surroundings, but it was all the same. Faded brick walls on the ceiling, floor, and walls around him; nothing new, no kind of clues. That was, until he felt one of the bricks sink slightly under the weight of his foot.

"Fayt! Wind!" Zephyr was much more in tune with his aerokinesis in comparison to Fayt, despite the latter being one of the princes of the sky. He was able to detect changes in the wind, and more importantly, the fact that dozens of darts were now rushing towards them from the walls and ceiling. Fayt was quick though, and the two wind users were able to put up a barrier in time to blow the attack away.

"Poison." Fayt picked up one of the darts that were now scattered upon the floor and watched an oozing green liquid drip from the tip. "This place is booby trapped. This path at least. I'm not sure how the others are doing. The walls are too thick to hear them."

"True enough. We better fly from here on out to be safe." Fayt nodded in agreement with Zephyr's idea and the two took to the skies.

"Duck, Iliana!" Mariella's dark green eyes narrowed upon the skeleton that was swinging a sword composed of bones towards Iliana. Mariella's arrow hit its mark; the direct center of the skeleton's head and it collapsed.

"That's what? The fifth one within four minutes?" Iliana had a gash upon her right shoulder from the first one. Mariella took to healing it of course, but it would still need time to be fully fixed. It stopped bleeding however and was starting to close up. More importantly, the pain was significantly reduced. Mariella wasn't unharmed either; the bruise on her thigh from one of the skeleton's surprisingly strong grip was forcing her to walk with a limp until the healing process was finished. "We're not going to make it to the others if this keeps up."

"You want me to walk so you save some strength?" Iliana had been teleporting with Mariella in short bursts so that Mariella wouldn't have constant weight on her injury, but it was making Iliana tired. It took enough energy teleporting herself, let alone teleporting something in the same weight class as her. It was quickly taking its toll.

"I should be fine for a few more teleports. Just have an arrow ready to defend us." With Iliana's approval, Mariella slung her arm over Iliana's left shoulder and held on as tightly as she could. When they arrived at their teleportation point, about forty feet down the path, they found a half dozen skeletons looking at them. In unison, both Mariella and Iliana murdered a curse in Greek under their breath, and prepared themselves for battle.

Orion adapted extremely quickly to Daemon's powers, which was no easy task. It meant that he constantly had to be on both the offensive and defensive at the same time. He had surmised that Daemon could only use his power in quick burst while engaging in close range combat, and that he mostly used it to catch his opponent off guard. So Orion thought of the strategy of purposely leaving a spot open in his defense, and focusing his attack on that open spot to counter the blow that Daemon would inevitably deliver there. The two were evenly matched. "Got you." Daemon's words barely finished leaving his lips, before Orion planted his swords into the ground. The result was a water spout forming around Orion that knocked Daemon away. When the water subsided, Daemon launched his dagger towards Orion. He dodged it, but the dagger had caused him to slow down once it entered his shadow. Once it passed, he was against the wall with Daemon holding a blade to his throat.

"Looks like it's a tie." Orion grinned, while motioning towards Daemon's stomach. The son of Poseidon had made a drill of highly compressed water that was just inches away from drilling directly through the son of time's body.

"We didn't agree on what would happen in case of a tie, did we?" Daemon let Orion down. He was thoroughly impressed with his skill. "Ah well; it doesn't matter I suppose." Daemon sheathed his weapons and watched as Orion did the same.

"So you'll join?" Orion's voice was still calm as per usual, but it seemed to be happy.

"Only out of spite to the gods. Now come on. Our little skirmish made us lose time."

"We didn't lose time; you're right here." Daemon stared at Orion after his joke for a minute, before walking away.

"I changed my mind. "

"Oh c'mon, it wasn't that bad!" Orion chased after Daemon and the two sped towards the end of the path.

"These things are really irritating me!" Fayt zipped through the sky with Zephyr by his side. This time it was Zephyr who set off the trap that was currently hounding them; flaming boulders zipping through the sky closing in on their trail. The child of Zeus occasionally shot out a bolt of lightning at the boulders and would destroy one, but other than that the two had no choice but to retreat and hope they'd reach the exit soon.

"Don't fall behind." Zephyr barely dodged a boulder aimed at his head by dropping down towards the ground. He discovered the hard way that shooting wind at the boulders would destroy one, but fan the flames of all the boulders in the immediate area of his targeted one. They decided that wasn't a good idea. "If we can get to the exit, we could collapse the walls of the path and block the things in!" Zephyr increased his speed, which prompted Fayt to do the same.

"We're almost there!" Fayt pointed out a light that seemed to be by something other than the torches that lined the walls down their path, and two figures standing in it. Zephyr was faster than Fayt in the sky, and escaped the path first.

"Hurry Fayt!" Zephyr had already begun to destroy the walls that were surrounding Fayt. With a furious cry, Fayt pushed himself to the very limit of his gift of flight and barely managed to get out of the tunnel before the walls fell on him.

Iliana tossed her weapon towards one of the skeletons and managed to split it directly down the spine. She then teleported to her weapon while it was still in midair, and sliced a second one into numerous parts. The two had realized that they had to either split the monsters down the middle, or destroy their heads completely. Simply removing their heads didn't work, although they did have a harder time fighting without it. Mariella shot an arrow point plant into a skeleton's head and it erupted into various pieces. "Two more…Iliana!" In the brief second it took for Mariella to destroy her opponent, one of the remaining skeleton's managed to knock Iliana unconscious by driving her head into the wall. Acting quickly, Mariella shot an arrow that erupted in a pillar of light. It didn't damage the skeletons, but it gave her the chance to limp towards Iliana and throw her over her shoulder. Luckily Iliana was shorter than her, and Mariella's injury was for the most part recovered thanks to her own healing song. But she knew there was no way she was going to be able to protect Iliana and fight off the skeletons. If the blow to her leg was fully healed then she could have, but not like this. Her only option was to make a break for it. The skeletons could easily be slowed down with a shot to the knee, and she could see a light in the distance. Hopefully, her friends were there already. While the skeletons were still distracted, Mariella swung her bow hard at both of their right knees and darted off down the hall as quickly as she could. "Help guys!"

Just as the skeletons caught up with Mariella, her cries were answered. A bolt of lightning and jet of water crashed into the skeletons, while Daemon and Zephyr grabbed the two girls and pulled them out of the tunnel. "We should rest here for a little so we can regain our strength." Orion explained once the group swapped stories of what happened during their journey. The place they found themselves was comfortable enough; significantly less faded bricks lined the floor and walls, while the ceiling was open enough for the sun to shine in. They decided it was okay to destroy the tunnel that Mariella and Iliana traveled down as well, so that the only way they could get back was through the empty tunnel that Orion and Daemon took. Besides the tunnel, the only way to proceed was the two large, iron doors behind them. They figured that's where they needed to go, but for now it was time to rest.


End file.
